June 25/08 8:30 am - Tour of Pennsylvania: Stage 2: Lacombe Wins!

Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefits Strategies-Medifast) continues to perform at the Tour of Pennsylvania, winning today's stage and taking the Points Jersey. Amy Smolens talked with Keven both before and after the stage.

Prerace, Stage 2

Amy Smolens: You guys were pretty close yesterday with both you and Jake Keough finishing in second in a stage - is today a good chance for your team to pick up a win?

Keven Lacombe: Yeah, we really want to win this stage and so we're going to try to come by a sprint or if it's possible to bring back (a break) and work to have a good sprint field and try to win today.

AS: Do you feel like Kelly Benefit Strategies has one of the top leadout trains in this race since most of you have been racing together quite a bit?

KL: Yeah, especially with Jonas (Carney, team director). Jonas helps a lot. He's one of the good team directors and I think we have a really good team to do well today and everybody works together so it's good for the win.

Keven Lacombe - Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast - Winner, Stage 2

Amy Smolens: Did you think the original break would stay away?

Keven Lacombe: We were sure the break would stay so that's why me and David (Veilleux) tried at the beginning to chase (the original break) and we saw that there was no way we can chase back the breakaway so we just tried to attack. The Yellow Jersey (Belgian Steven Van Vooren of Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy) came with us, and when we bridged we had close to two minutes in front of the pack.

AS: Then you were in a good position with both you and David in the final selection of 20 riders. Talk about your strategy there.

KL: Yeah, we spoke a lot with Jonas, trying to know what we should do at the end. With three kilometres to go somebody attacked so we were there a little bit because we were just two people, so David went. After that they didn't (attack) until 500 metres to go so it was perfect for me for the sprint.

AS: Who were the danger men in the break that you were worried about?

KL: Maybe many good sprinters were there so we just kind of tried to arrange, like David was working a lot until the end of the breakaway and I was just trying to stay behind and keep my energy. David did a really good job, so if I was alone I think I would have had a lot more difficulty to do this, but with David it was really more like a team effort, so I just had to do the last 200 metres.

AS: This is a pretty big race for U25 riders. How important is a stage win here for you and your team?

KL: Yeah, for Kelly Benefit Strategies at the beginning our goal was to win a stage and to do really well on the GC overall, so right now we have four stages to go and we're just going try to win more stages and put guys in the Yellow Jersey so we still have a lot of work to do.

AS: So how do you approach the rest of the week?

KL: I think all the team is really ready and there's a lot of stages left in the race so we're just going to try to keep the Green Jersey and try to have the Yellow Jersey. Our goal for the Kelly Benefit team is more like to try to come back with the Yellow Jersey and so by the end of the week we're going to try to support the climbers. Tomorrow is really a hard race with two KOMs (note: and 8639 feet of climbing.)

AS: And how much of a priority is keeping the Points Jersey on your back?

KL: We didn't really expect to win the Points Jersey but I won one sprint in the race (29 miles into the stage, in Ephrata) and with the end of the race (I won the jersey.) We didn't really expect to have it but right now we have it so we're going to try and defend it and keep it until the end of the week.

Race Reportcourtesy organizers

The Canadian all-rounder Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast/USA) jumped ahead of a late-race, 18-rider breakaway to triumph in Stage 2 of the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania presented by Highmark Healthy High 5. Lacombe took his first tour victory ahead of the South African speedster Christoff Van Heerden (Konica Minolta) and America's own Ryan Baumann (Sakonnet Technology).

"It is so nice to race here, the roads have been beautiful and the stages are great," said an elated Lacombe during the podium presentation held at the finish line in Carlisle. "It is just such a great opportunity for us to be here racing, and we expect to do well in the end of the week."

The American Eagle Outfitters yellow jersey leader from Belgium, Steven Van Vooren (Johan Brunyeel Cycling Academy), joined the breakaway late in the game to continue his slender lead ahead of Lacombe and Van Heerden going into tomorrow's lengthy stage 3 road race.

"I didn't anticipate getting results here, but I knew I was capable of doing good things in the opening time trial," said the overall race leader Van Vooren who has maintained a three-second lead during the first three stages. "It was a question of doing well in the prologue, and that was really the start of my ambition.

The top-notch international field set off from Downingtown this morning, which was presented by Independence Blue Cross, and finished 144 kilometers later on the streets of Carlisle, presented by Pitt Ohio Express.

The stage took riders through Lancaster County's picturesque Amish country where the undulating terrain provided a warm-up for the event's intermediate sprint and climbing competitions.

Stage winner Lacombe accumulated enough points in intermediate sprint competitions held in Ephrata and Hershey, combined with the extra points offered on the finish line in Carlisle, to take the lead in the Best Sprinter competition.